What is your pet peeve of the day?

[Scrapr]

Yea, this is the new trend.... they can have a few people and have a 'buzz'.... I do not like them either... now, I do go to Chipolte which does this, so I will put up with it at times...

How's your salmonella?

Too soon?

 

[Texas Proud]

How's your salmonella?

Too soon?

Nope, not too soon....

 

[dasranger]

If I go into a restaurant and a tv is on, I'll ask if the sound can be muted. If they say no, I leave.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Back in the days when we had Palm Pilots, I had an app that used the IR port to make it function as a remote control. If I was in a doctor's waiting room with the TV blaring game shows or whatever, I'd pass the time by trying all the remote codes for the particular brand of TV it was until I hit on the right one. Then I'd mute the dang thing, all the while looking as if I was busily checking my calendar. Especially handy when the TV was mounted near the ceiling.

I sure miss those IR ports on my iPhone.

 

[John Galt III]

Peeve I suffered through once again recently : You're watching a movie. The cast of characters is upper middle class, college educated, well spoken, well mannered, as you would expect. Until......... the eating scene..... It's as if the director then says "OK, actors, change you're whole identity for the viewer...eat like total slobs, show the food as you chew with open mouths, speak with your mouths full so that you garble your words, push that loose bit of food back into your mouth, and gets those cheeks bulging out too, and don't move your fork from your left hand to your right hand after you cut the steak. Let's get those folks in the audience relating to you on their level!! I know you can do it!" Happens all the time. It's so glaringly out of place. But they keep doing it.

 

[Nightcap]

Peeve I suffered through once again recently : You're watching a movie. The cast of characters is upper middle class, college educated, well spoken, well mannered, as you would expect. Until......... the eating scene..... It's as if the director then says "OK, actors, change you're whole identity for the viewer...eat like total slobs, show the food as you chew with open mouths, speak with your mouths full so that you garble your words, push that loose bit of food back into your mouth, and gets those cheeks bulging out too, and don't move your fork from your left hand to your right hand after you cut the steak. Let's get those folks in the audience relating to you on their level!! I know you can do it!" Happens all the time. It's so glaringly out of place. But they keep doing it.

Just one tiny niggle: the fork is held in the left hand, tines down. The knife is held in the right. The left hand raises the fork to the mouth with bite-sized pieces of food. That's the polite European way. The American way of switching back and forth and using the fork tines up in the right hand to move food to the mouth is considered vulgar and described as "shoveling."

But I agree with the rest of your peeve. I will also add the incipient alcoholism of the hero protagonist: whenever a drink is placed before him (or sometimes her), whether it's an Imperial pint of beer or two fingers of rotgut, it's always drained in one go as though Prohibition were about to return.

 

[O2Bfree]

Another thing that gets me about movies and also TV shows is when a character is a waitress or works in a bookstore or has some other likely low-paying job, yet they live in a spacious, stylishly-decorated apartment in a HCOLA. Maybe this has contributed to the sense of entitlement that seems to be growing these days.

 

[Sojourner]

Another thing that gets me about movies and also TV shows is when a character is a waitress or works in a bookstore or has some other likely low-paying job, yet they live in a spacious, stylishly-decorated apartment in a HCOLA. Maybe this has contributed to the sense of entitlement that seems to be growing these days.

Yep, made famous by the sitcom Friends in the 1990s. The main set for the show was a beautiful 1,500 sq ft apartment in Greenwich Village shared by the two main female characters, Monica and Rachel. An apartment like that would easily rent for $4k - $5k a month, yet Rachel was a waitress in a coffee shop and Monica was a garden-variety chef. Unrealistic in the extreme, but a great show nonetheless.

 

[Chuckanut]

Just one tiny niggle: the fork is held in the left hand, tines down. The knife is held in the right. The left hand raises the fork to the mouth with bite-sized pieces of food. That's the polite European way.

Is is true that in WW2 many American spies were caught by the Nazis when they gave themselves away by eating with the fork in the wrong hand?

When overseas in Europe I have watched a few Brits eat with the fork always in the left had. But, I can't quite seem to master it. There is something about eating peas that messes things up for me.

 

[Fedup]

Is is true that in WW2 many American spies were caught by the Nazis when they gave themselves away by eating with the fork in the wrong hand?

When overseas in Europe I have watched a few Brits eat with the fork always in the left had. But, I can't quite seem to master it. There is something about eating peas that messes things up for me.

My husband spent years training my kids to eat this way since birth, I don't know if it works either.

 

[Meadbh]

When overseas in Europe I have watched a few Brits eat with the fork always in the left had. But, I can't quite seem to master it. There is something about eating peas that messes things up for me.

Old British rhyme:

I eat my peas with honey. I've done it all my life.
It makes the peas taste funny, but it keeps them on my knife!

 

[Bestwifeever]

I did not notice anyone holding a fork with its tines pointing down as food was transferred from plate to mouth on a trip to Great Britain last month (and I watched closely as I was emulating my fellow diners in mostly upscale restaurants)--yes to the continental style of keeping fork in left hand, though. Peas on a fork is easy, though. Just order the mushy peas.

 

[Dash man]

Just one tiny niggle: the fork is held in the left hand, tines down. The knife is held in the right. The left hand raises the fork to the mouth with bite-sized pieces of food. That's the polite European way. The American way of switching back and forth and using the fork tines up in the right hand to move food to the mouth is considered vulgar and described as "shoveling."

I don't see the issue. I've been eating with fork in my left hand and knife in my right hand my entire life. Why switch hands? Just more proof left handed people are more intelligent.

 

[ls99]

Is is true that in WW2 many American spies were caught by the Nazis when they gave themselves away by eating with the fork in the wrong hand?

When overseas in Europe I have watched a few Brits eat with the fork always in the left had. But, I can't quite seem to master it. There is something about eating peas that messes things up for me.

I don't know about the catching of spies by their less than proper utensil handling.

I had mastered the skill by age 11.

 

[John Galt III]

Another thing that gets me about movies and also TV shows is when a character is a waitress or works in a bookstore or has some other likely low-paying job, yet they live in a spacious, stylishly-decorated apartment in a HCOLA. Maybe this has contributed to the sense of entitlement that seems to be growing these days.

Yes! Yes! Yes! Another couple glaring errors one always sees in TV sitcoms and movies: 1) The dorky, ugly guy, often without a redeeming personality, who is dating, of course, the knockout model-quality female. No explanation ever given, just accept it, right? Like George Costanza in Seinfeld.

 

[euro]

Is is true that in WW2 many American spies were caught by the Nazis when they gave themselves away by eating with the fork in the wrong hand?

When overseas in Europe I have watched a few Brits eat with the fork always in the left had. But, I can't quite seem to master it. There is something about eating peas that messes things up for me.

I would make a great spy then - I ALWAYS hold my fork with my left hand.

 

[samclem]

Is is true that in WW2 many American spies were caught by the Nazis when they gave themselves away by eating with the fork in the wrong hand?

I never heard that, but I suppose it is possible. I don't think the US tried to insert many Americans into Germany and pass them off as Germans.

But, there was the very interesting case of Germany trying to insert spies into the UK. Their program was not well done, they didn't build up a network in Britain as the war was looming (in the mid-thirties, Hitler believed he could keep the UK out of the war and did not want to antagonize the British government by inserting a lot of agents). By the time they decided to get some spies in, they could only manage some very hasty training and they even produced crummy ID documents for them. Virtually every one of these spies were caught quickly due to their non-familiarity with British daily life (e.g giving a 20 pound note for a subway ticket and not waiting for change, trying to buy liquor in the morning before pubs were allowed to sell it, etc).
The British offered the captured spies the normal deal: Work for us or be hanged. They had takers for both offers, and they did quite a masterful job of spreading disinformation to the German high command using the spies who decided to turn.
More in this Wikipedia article, and in this short book by a key participant (John Masterman). The Wiki article cites some more recent books that include information Masterman was not allowed to publish in his account.

 

[O2Bfree]

A peeve this morning from w*rk: Young employees who avoid greeting you or even looking at you in common areas and hallways, even when you WORK ON THE SAME PROJECT TOGETHER! I've noticed this with newer, young workers, and find it rather rude. Some actually look the other way seemingly to avoid eye contact. Ok, maybe I'm "old" (almost 55!) and may have a different lifestyle, but we are coworkers for crying out loud! The least they could do is say, "Good morning" on a Monday morning!

 

[Nightcap]

Is is true that in WW2 many American spies were caught by the Nazis when they gave themselves away by eating with the fork in the wrong hand?

When overseas in Europe I have watched a few Brits eat with the fork always in the left had. But, I can't quite seem to master it. There is something about eating peas that messes things up for me.

"I eat my peas with honey.
I've done it all me life.
The peas taste rather funny,
But it keeps them on the knife!"

Never had a problem eating that way. Now eating peas with chopsticks, that's tricky.

 

[Amethyst]

How much younger? Early 20's folks are at least as absorbed in their own concerns as the very elderly seem to be. Young women often avoid eye contact with middle aged men to avoid awkward attempts to flirt (ask me how I know lol). Maybe young men do the same to older women? Anyway, by 30 we are usually all on an equal footing, at work, socially.

 

[Texas Proud]

I have looked and there is very little info I can find....

But, from the little that I read... the story seems to be false.... no spies were found out due to their eating habits...


I did see where someone said a downed pilot was caught because of this, but it was in a discussion forum with no backup...


Another said that most spies were recruited from locals... they would not have been caught because of their eating habits...


So I say BS on the 'spies were caught due to eating habits'.....

 

[razztazz]

If those people were trained as spies simple things like table manners would have been covered and drilled ad nauseam or, like myself, they grew up in an "ethnic household" and were already imbued with those little social idioms.

Now a case of a downed pilot here and there trying to escape and having to blend in along the way is not a spy. he's just trying to "pass" and not get noticed. That person might unknowingly commit a detectable faux pas like that.

 

[O2Bfree]

How much younger? Early 20's folks are at least as absorbed in their own concerns as the very elderly seem to be. Young women often avoid eye contact with middle aged men to avoid awkward attempts to flirt (ask me how I know lol). Maybe young men do the same to older women? Anyway, by 30 we are usually all on an equal footing, at work, socially.

They're mostly early to mid 20s, and indeed all young guys, so maybe your point about flirting is valid (like I would ever do that... ).

Or maybe they associate older women with motherly attention and are in no way wanting any of that (except in expecting others to clean up the common areas).

 

[pb4uski]

just one tiny niggle: The fork is held in the left hand, tines down. The knife is held in the right. The left hand raises the fork to the mouth with bite-sized pieces of food. That's the polite european way. The american way of switching back and forth and using the fork tines up in the right hand to move food to the mouth is considered vulgar and described as "shoveling." by europeans

Fixed it for you

 

[Fedup]

So what, who cares. My European niece only uses fingers to eat. Her mom didn't believe in forks and knifes.